I was inspired by wifes recent success in finding some family while digging into her roots ( http://365project.org/harvey/365/2010-06-26) and I did some recent digging into my own family history. I found the family name of my grandfathers parents, Pieronkiewicz, who were from a small town southwest of Krakow called Harbutowice, Poland. They moved to the states in 1913 when they were in their early 20's. Once in the US there was a large anti-polish stigmatism at the time (my how history repeats itself, just with different groups) and they had trouble finding work with such a Polish name. Therefore they changed their name to the american sounding Harvey, which I still carry today.
I figured the next best way to get back to my Polish roots would be to prepare some perogies this past saturday. I made two kinds, potato with goat cheese, and sauerkraut with mushooom. Anne helped me fill and seal them and we made 55 little perogies that were amazingly delicious. No we didn't eat them in one sitting, its enough for about 4 meals. However I was slaving in the kitchen for about 6 hours and was super beat afterwards, so I decided I will be only occasionally visiting my Polish roots. I took all these pics except the one in the lower left, which Anne took of me filling a perogie, and where you can see me rocking the kitchen apron.
Oooh they look really yummy - they look like japanese dumplings which I made last week - Gyoza....you steam them and then pan fry them, they are superb! I thought you looked kinda Germanic !
peirogi roots...one of my favorite, but have never attempted to create them myself...great photos of the process...I can just imagine how delicious they are...lots of work...good job...
Very nice Harvey. I like your commentary and just think of how many people, when immigrating to the States, changed their names. The US is the land of the free and it is sad to see people being discriminated against because one group believes they are superior to another.
Interesting genealogy and delicious-looking perogies (piirakat in Finnish). I don't make them very often besides my mother in law made better ones when she was still capable of doing it.
Really good looking perogies (or piirakat in Finnish like Anneli said). It was interesting to read your story. The story and the photos make a perfect combination.
September 15th, 2010
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